The jacket with on-board infotainment system

There are very few items that everyone, male or female, have to have in their wardrobe, but, alongside underwear, a denim jacket is surely up there.

Like all classics, it is a simple design that’s barely evolved over the years, because it was pretty much perfect to start with.

Or so we thought.

Levi’s has teamed up with Google to update its Trucker jacket for the 21st century. The concept was to make a jacket to suit the needs of an urban cycle commuter while staying true to the design’s origins.

To you and me, this means they have collaborated with Google to incorporate an armful of technology. Literally.

The Bluetooth enabled tag will link your phone to your jacket leaving you free to explore

The cuff of the sleeve has a panel of touch-sensitive Jacquard by Google fabric that allows you to control your phone.

The idea is that when you snap in a Bluetooth-enabled tag (which looks like a cross between a denim jacket button and a security tag) while wearing headphones, you can swipe your way through the controls of your phone to answer calls, listen to music, navigate using Google Maps, and so on. Pretty sweet.

Only two real drawbacks. It’s not cheap ($350 on levi.com), and Levi’s advise that the techy fabric will only survive ten washes. Mind you, you shouldn’t be washing your denim much anyway, right?